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B.C. man keeps vigil at side of brain-dead wife, unborn son

Dylan Benson’s wife, Robyn, has been kept alive artificially since a brain hemorrhage in December. Her husband is now raising money to help him bring Iver Cohen into the world.

Robyn Benson was left brain-dead after a hemorrhage in December, but doctors at Victoria General Hospital are keeping her body alive until the fetus she carries can be delivered by caesarean section.

Doctors are hoping to keep Robyn Benson alive until her unborn son — who will be named Iver Cohen — reaches 34 weeks, improving his chances of survival.

"She was my rock," Dylan Benson writes of his wife, Robyn, who has been brain-dead since suffering a hemorrhage in December. He knows that welcoming their son, Iver, into the world will also mean saying goodbye to his wife.

Dylan Benson, a 32-year-old British Columbia man, spends his days at Victoria General Hospital at the side of his wife, Robyn, whose body is being kept alive as the couple’s first-born son grows inside it.

Robyn, 32, suffered a brain hemorrhage on Dec. 28.

That morning, she complained of a headache and asked her husband to run to the store to get her some Tylenol. When he got home, she was unconscious on the bathroom floor.

“At the hospital they discovered that my wife had experienced a massive blood leak into the centre of her brain and that there was so much blood and pressure and damage that it was irreparable,” wrote Benson on a blog.

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She was brain-dead, though her heart could continue to beat for some time with the aid of breathing machines.

Robyn was 22 weeks pregnant.

Benson and doctors decided to try to keep her body functioning as long as possible, to give their unborn son time to grow and, they hope, survive a caesarean section. Benson will call him Iver Cohen.

“She was my rock,” Benson wrote of his wife on a web page set up to raise funds. “She did so much for us, and I can’t believe I won’t get to talk to her again. It is very difficult to know that our son will grow up never meeting his wonderful mother, and that we will have to say our goodbyes to Robyn within hours of seeing Iver for the first time.”

The Baby Iver Fund had raised more than $55,000 by Monday evening, far surpassing its $36,000 goal.

The money will help with funeral expenses and support Benson, who works in IT, while he’s away from his job and raising a baby.

“He’s got a stiff upper lip,” said Phillips. “I’ve got to give him full credit — his resilience to all the challenges he’s going through right now is inspiring. But I also know it’s a very tender time and he’s getting tired fairly easily, and his focus really wants to be on being at Robyn’s side.”

A recent case in Texas of a brain-dead pregnant woman, Marlise Munoz, became hugely controversial as the hospital refused to take her off life support, despite her family’s wishes. The hospital cited a Texas law that prohibits denying life-saving treatment to a pregnant patient.

“Marlise Munoz is dead, and she gave clear instructions to her husband and family — Marlise was not to remain on any type of artificial ‘life-sustaining treatment,’ ventilators or the like,” the lawsuit read. “There is no reason JPS should be allowed to continue treatment on Marlise Munoz’s dead body.”

A court agreed with the family, and Munoz was taken off life support on Jan. 26.

Prof. Arthur Schafer, director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba, said there are “striking differences” between the Texas case and the Bensons’ situation.

First, there’s the discrepancy in law: while more than two dozen U.S. states, including Texas, have rules about taking pregnant patients off life support, Canada does not.

In addition, the family’s wishes in the B.C. case align with the medical team’s plans.

“I don’t see it as ethically problematic in any way,” said Schafer. “Nor would it have been ethically problematic if for any reason (Benson had) said, ‘She’s dead. Take her out of the ICU.’”

Udo Schuklenk, who holds an Ontario Research Chair in bioethics at Queen’s University, agreed: “If you could extract (the baby) from this dead body, why should you bury it with that body, given that the father wants it?” said Schuklenk. “It’s a wonderful thing, if it all comes to be.”

So far, Robyn’s body has harboured the fetus for five weeks. The medical team is hoping the situation lasts until the fetus is 34 weeks old — about seven weeks from now — to improve his chances of survival, Benson wrote on his blog.

“Knowing that sooner or later I will (“hopefully”) be splitting my time between the (neonatal intensive care unit) with my newborn son and having to start grieving all over again and probably much harder … I can’t describe the feeling but it’s very overwhelming.”

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